Radio Scanners are an important way of understanding your community and the needs of your community. The hobby is a fun way to listen in on the surrounding area.
Oftentimes we do not understand fully our communities. We may know the people next door, and maybe down the street–but what about across town? We get into our cars and drive to work and come back, but we never look around. A radio scanner allows us to look around. But, it takes time.
I remember when I lived in Louisville, KY, when I first began to seriously listen to my police scanner. It was in the days before computers and all of the scanners were input manually and could be received by an analog scanner. Then, there were few “trunking” scanners. I would listen to everything–fire, EMS, taxi cabs–you name it, I tried to listen to it.
It was then that I learned the true capability of the radio scanner is understanding the community where I lived. By looking on the map (they still had maps those days too) and by keeping the maps close–I began to see trends. Places where the police and fire calls were dispatched and then the context of each call. I learned which parts of town had different problems to deal with and different struggles to face. I learned this by tracking the radio calls each night and following on a map.
Using my radio scanner has been a hobby that I have enjoyed for over 20 years and look forward to many more years. Now, I am using a recent digital scanner to follow all of the new digital frequencies that are popping up. It is a wonderful hobby to enjoy and to learn about your community at the same time.